Draco Malfoy & the Prisoner of Azkaban
by malfoytheseeker
Summary: Draco is back for his third year. With a mission to find Sirius Black and learn what happened all those years ago when Voldemort had disappeared, Draco earns himself more detentions than he would like. Not to mention that the Golden Trio is back, too, and Draco must keep his plan to be hated them intact.
1. 1: The Monstrous Book

The summer before third year was moving along swimmingly. Draco, Blaise, Theo, and Adrian were in the Malfoys' living room discussing their new classes. All of them had signed up for Potions, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Care of Magical Creatures.

Draco and Blaise were also taking Divination and Ancient Runes while Theo and Adrian were taking Astronomy and Arithmancy.

"So," Blaise said, "what do you reckon Divination's like?"

"I don't know," Draco answered, "but it should be pretty easy. It's basically a guessing class."

"I'm starting to think I shouldn't have taken Astronomy," Theo said.

"Yeah," Draco said, "why'd you two take that anyway?"

"In all honesty," Adrian said, "I think we just kind of put down random classes."

"Can you imagine having to get up late at night for Astronomy?" Theo groaned. "We'd be dead tired before _and_ after the class."

"You don't think it's too late to switch, do you?" Adrian asked.

"Probably," Blaise said, "unless you have some extremely good reason to switch."

"I don't."

"Then good luck, mate," Draco said. Turning to Blaise, he asked, "What about Ancient Runes? I don't think that's going to be a walk in the park."

"If it's anything like Italian, I'll be fine," Blaise said.

"I highly doubt that Ancient Runes is going to be like any internationally known language that people speak."

"Well, at least we're not taking Arithmancy."

"Okay," Adrian said, "we picked the worst classes. So what?"

"So you're screwed," Draco said.

"Thanks," Theo said. "Really appreciating the concern, here."

Just then, a brown owl flew in with _The Daily Prophet_. Drack untied it from his owl's leg and scooped out a knut from his pocket to place in the pouch tied to the owl's other leg.

"Anything interesting?" Theo asked.

Draco looked at the cover and read the headline before saying, "There's been an escape from Azkaban."

"What?" The other three gasped.

"Sirius Black. They think he's this big supporter of Voldemort, but Father's never mentioned him before."

"Draco, is that the post?" called a female's voice from the kitchen.

"Yes, Mother. You won't believe what's happened."

Narcissa Malfoy walked in from the kitchen, and hearing the commotion, Lucius Malfoy came down from his study.

"What is it?" Lucius asked.

"Sirius Black's broken out of Azkaban," Draco said, handing the paper to his father.

"Sirius Black?" Lucius repeated.

"Why, who is he?"

"Best friend of James Potter. Black and Potter were thick as thieves, and they were also close with Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew."

"Wormtail?" Blaise confirmed.

"Yes, Wormtail was a Gryffindor. He was faithful to the Dark Lord until Black allegedly killed him. While the whole wizarding world believes that Black betrayed James and Lily Potter to the Dark Lord, it was actually Wormtail. I suppose Black killed him because he was furious with him."

Only Draco's three friends knew about what had happened to Lucius Malfoy a decade and a half ago, and Draco had forbidden them to tell their parents. They knew that the Malfoys' did not truly support Voldemort, and neither did the families of Draco's friends, except for Theo's father.

"Why, and more improtantly, how did he break out?" Draco asked.

"No one knows how," Lucius said, "but they all say he's broken out to kill Harry Potter."

"That obviously isn't true."

"Yes, but they don't know that."

"We're not telling them, Father, if that's what you're asking."

"Draco, you can't say anything about anything. I must warn you all that the Dark Lord will be returning very soon and that it is best that you act as if you hate Potter's guts."

"That's not going to be hard."

"Even more so, give Potter and his friends a reason to hate you. This way they will forget about what you've done in the past two years."

"Can't I just wipe their memories?"

"Draco," Narcissa said, "that is N.E.W.T level magic."

"Right."

"Well, we will leave you boys. By the way, we're going to Diagon Alley Tomorrow."

"Great."

Once Draco's parents had left, Draco said to his friends, "Hating Potter's not going to be difficult at all. Remember how Granger lied about me knocking out the troll in our first year?"

The other boys nodded. "Also last year," Adrian said, "didn't they leave you alone in the Chamber of Secrets? Plus, you saved Granger's life twice in the two years."

"See what I mean? They're horrible, nosy, stuck-up Gryffindors. Stubborn too, I might add."

"They're not all bad," Blaise said. "What about Finnigan and Thomas?"

"Finnigan's a half-blood and Thomas is a Mudblood."

"Draco," Blaise warned.

"You have to get used to saying it," Theo told him. "One day, we'll all become Death Eaters because I've got a feeling that Moldy Voldie's stickin' around for a while."

Snorting at Theo's name for the creature, Draco said, "Good thing he's not back yet, or he'd've Avadad you for that."

"By the way," Adrian said, "my father said that Professor Kettleburn, the former Care of Magical Creatures professor, retired. Who d'you reckon it's going to be this year?"

"Father said that Dumbledore picked the gamekeeper, Hagrid," Draco said.

"Of course," Blaise said, "that makes sense. Who else would assign _The Monster Book of Monsters_?"_  
_

"The what?" Theo asked.

"You'll find out soon."

Draco did indeed find out. After packing away all of his other supplies after returning from Diagon Alley the next day, he took his new monster book in hand. Unfastening the belt that was tied around it for whatever reason, he opened it only to have it roar and snap at him.

He quickly dropped the book and hopped backwards as the book snappingly approached him. Draco stepped back and next thing he knew, the only things keeping him from falling out the window were his legs, tightly hanging onto the window pane as the rest of the boy's body dangled out the window.

"Bloody hell, I'm screwed," Draco muttered to himself as his legs slipped a bit, dropping him a centimeter.

Draco tilted his head to see how far up he was. He was on the third floor and with a five meter ceiling in every room on the first floor except the small bathroom and main kitchen (neither of which were below Draco's room) three meter high ceilings in every room in the second floor, and the window Draco was hanging out of a meter high...

"Brilliant! I'm about nine meters away from my iminent death."

So all Draco could do was hang as the monstrous book hungrily growled at his feet (or below his feet since if it was at his feet, Draco would cease to have feet).

Finally, Draco's legs gave way and he was tumbling through the air.

_What's that spell, what's that spell?_ Draco wondered. And like in all miracles, Draco thought of _Aresto Momentum_ right before he hit the ground...

...but he wasn't fast enough to say it. He only had time to place his left arm under him so that it would protect the rest of body from damage.

Needless to say, Draco ended up in St. Mungo's anyway. Thus, his hating scheme began. He didn't know why, but in order to get the Gryffindors to hate him, he had to get Hagrid sacked...

...or whatever would work. He couldn't really think about anything except for the disgusting taste of the potion he was drinking.


	2. 2: Dementors

Draco was released from St. Mungo's a few days after the book incident. He did admit, only to himself, that hospital food was quite good sometimes. He could just remember the taste of the aromatic gravy atop his smooth and creamy mashed potatoes. The water didn't taste like a potion gone wrong, and neither did the pumpkin juice (though Draco still wasn't a fan of the latter).

The rest of the summer flew by quickly and before he knew it, Draco was boarding the Hogwarts Express. His parents even saw him off at Kings' Cross Station, unlike the previous year.

He found a compartment with Blaise, Theo, and Adrian, and they all took their seats. However, when they were crossing the bridge where Draco had seen Potter, Weasley, and their flying car the year before, things started to get bumpy.

The train came to a sudden halt which threw Theo and Adrian at the other two boys.

"What's happening?" Theo asked as he got up. "Why have we stopped? We can't be there yet."

Blaise opened the compartment door and peeked outside only to be chucked back into his seat.

"What's going on?" Draco said.

"Dunno," Blaise replied. "Maybe we've broken down."

The lights flickered and went out, but they were back in a few seconds. Adrian glanced out the window.

"There's something moving out there," he said, voice laced with fear. The lights went out again before he said, "I think it's coming for us!"

"Calm down, Adrian," Draco said. He frowned and addressed his friends, "Is it just me, or is it getting a bit colder?"

Sure enough, Draco could see all four of their breaths as they exhaled. The window, with Adrian's hand on it, began to freeze. Draco could hear the ice slightly cracking.

He rubbed his hands together and pulled his robes in closer. Suddenly, the train shook. A dark, wispy figure deliberately floated towards the locked compartment door. Raising a skeletal hand, it seemed to beckon the door's lock to twist. It's hand was in motion as if it was sliding the door open, only, it wasn't. The door opened on its own. The creature's fingers gripped the side of the door.

Suddenly, the creature was thrown out of the compartment as a bright white light streaked the whole train.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Theo asked.

"Dementor," Blaise replied. "They're guards of Azkaban. I'll bet they're here because of Sirius Black."

"Yeah," Draco said, "since clearly one of us is hiding him under our cloaks. Dementors aren't smart at all."

"They only know that they're supposed to suck the happines out of you. I think they're the foulest creatures out there."

"Then you haven't met the Dark Lord."

The other three stared at Draco before bursting into laughter, and Draco chuckled at his own comment.

Draco excused himself to use the loo. He got out of the compartment and walked to the back of the car. On his way there, he saw Potter being shaken awake by Granger. There was a man offering the boy some chocolate.

Draco decided to continue on his way. So Potter fainted, did he? The war of hatred was on.

* * *

When the students were riding the carriages, Draco told the others what he saw.

"Remember," he said, "to make fun of him for it. This is what we're going to do."

Draco proceeded to tell them how they were going to torment Potter for fainting in front of a dementor.

When he was finished, Blaise said, "Honestly, I can't blame him. Those things are horrible. My mother once told me about those who get the Dementor's Kiss."

"Oh!" Adrian said. "Isn't that when they get their soul sucked out and become a vegetable?"

"Sounds awful," Theo said.

"Anyway," Blaise continued, "maybe the dementor opened Potter's compartment door and tried to suck out his soul."

"What was that light though?" Draco asked.

"I don't know, but whatever it was, it kept the dementors away."

The choir began performing after the students were seated in the Great Hall and the first years had been sorted.

"Since when do we have a choir?" Draco asked.

"Not thinking of joining, are we?" Blaise joked.

"Of course not, just wondering...and what's with the toads?"

Blaise just shrugged and turned back around.

When the song was finished and the toads croaked an ending ("Oh!" exclaimed Draco), Dumbledore stood at the podium.

"Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! Now, I'd like to say a few words before we all become too befuddled by our excellent feast. First, I'm pleased to welcome Professor R. J. Lupin, who's kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Good luck, Professor!"

The man Draco had seen with Potter rose humbly from the table and bowed before sitting back down.

Draco decided to out his plan of torment into action then.

"Potter!" He whisper-yelled. "Potter, is it true you fainted?"

Theo took his cue and pretended to faint, making the Slytherins laugh.

"I mean," Draco continued, "you actually fainted?"

"Shove off, Malfoy," Weasley said, and the Golden Trio turned back around.

The two Slytherins did a fist bump to acknowledge their success.

Dumbledore continued, "As some of you may know, Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher for many years, has decided to retire in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs. Fortunately, I'm delighted to announce that his place will be taken by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid!"

The half-giant stood up and shook his entire table while doing so.

"Finally, on a more disquieting note, at the request of the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the dementors of Azkaban, until such a time as Sirius Black is captured. The dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds. Now, whilst I've been assured that their presence will not disrupt our day-to-day activities, a word of caution: dementors are vicious creatures. They will not distinguish between the one they hunt, and the one who gets in their way. Therefore, I must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a dementor to be forgiving. But, you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times-" Dumbledore waved his hand over a candle and extinguished the flame "-if only one remembers to turn on the light." He waved his hand back over, and the flame reappeared.


	3. 3: The Time Turner

"Why exactly does Dumbledore want to see you two again?" Theo asked Draco and Blaise.

"Dunno," Draco replied. "Something about classes, I think."

"Well, see you then," Adrian said before he followed Theo into the Slytherin common room.

Draco and Blaise made their way to the Headmaster's office and stood in front of the door as neither boy knew the password. Footsteps echoed behind them and they spun around to see the man they were seeking.

"Boys, you have come," Dumbledore said.

_Clearly_, Draco thought.

The professor continued, "I understand that you two are taking both Divination and Ancient Runes this year. Unfortunately, these two classes are held at the same time for third years. I have written to the Ministry and they have provided me with items that I will pass on to you. You must handle them with great care."

_Speaking of care, _Draco thought, _would you _**care**_ to tell us what these items are?_

Dumbledore reached into his robe and pulled out two gold chains with an hourglass in a cirlce attached to each.

"These are time turners," Dumbledore explained. "They are kept in different sizes at the Ministry. These have been specifically suited to take you back one hour per turn. As classes are each forty-five minutes, you will have to go to one class, hide, travel back an hour, and go to your other class. Based on the location of classrooms, I believe it would be wise for you to attend Ancient Runes first."

After showing them how to work the time turners, Dumbledore handed one to each boy and said, "Be very careful. No one can see you. There have been incidents where wizards have gone mad because of errors in time travel. I suggest that you use this strictly for academic purposes and tell no one about this. Good night."

As the two boys left, Draco realized that the three of them hadn't gone inside Dumbledore's office.

Later that night, Draco was having trouble sleeping. He needed to go for a fly on his broom, and he did exactly that. As he swooped over the forest, he saw Hagrid taking to a large bird-like creature Draco recognized to be a hippogriff.

"Bloody chickens," Draco muttered. He did not get along with birds after the rooster incident last year. Nevertheless, he flew down a bit. Hagrid was saying, "Now Buckbeak, we've got a big day tomorrow, so ye'd better be goin' ter sleep." The large man tossed the bird a- a ferret?- and left for his hut. Draco flew down next to the spot where Hagrid was standing. Remembering what he'd learned about hippogriffs that summer during his "extra prep" session, he bowed to the creature. After a moment, the bird bowed back. Draco cautiously stepped forward to pet the big bird.

"Those are some nice feathers you've got," Draco said, knowing that hippogriffs enjoyed compliments and despised insults. "Do you mind if I ride you?"

Draco never would have thought that he'd want to do such a thing, nor that the bird would let him. But both of those things happened. During his flight on the bird's back, Draco did all he could to not shout in excitement. As he landed, he hopped off of the animal's back and said, "Excellent flying. You don't even need a broom. I suppose I'll see you tomorrow night, then." Little did he know that he would see him in class instead.

The next morning, Draco and Blaise gathered their _Ancient Runes Made Easy _textbooks and headed to their first class. The professor, Bathsheda Babbling, was a pudgy woman with short and curly brown hair tucked under her hat. She and Professor Sprout could have been twins if it weren't for the pale color of the skin of the former professor. She was like a grandmother should have been, a proper one.

Draco wondered how people could be so bubbly and happy all the time, but he didn't really care.

The class did not turn out to be too difficult, but it was a bit challenging to remember everything. They learned about the ten digits and how to draw the first three - demiguise, unicorn, and graphorn - properly. Before they knew it, class was over. The teacher bade them goodbye with the homework of copying the first three symbols ten times each. She also said that in about three or four more classes, there would be a quiz on the numbers.

Draco and Blaise hurried out of the classroom and ran to an empty classroom on the seventh floor. They strung the chains around their necks.

"How many turns did he [Dumbledore] say?" Draco asked.

"One, right? For each hour?" Blaise replied.

Together, they both twisted their respective hourglasses.

* * *

They burst out of the classroom and quickly climbed the stairs in the North Tower until they reached the Divination classroom with three minutes to spare.

Draco and Blaise, panting, took their seats. Draco glanced around the room. At least twenty small, circular tables were crammed inside it, all surrounded by chintz armchairs and fat little pouffes. Everything was lit with dim, crimson light; the curtains at the windows were all closed, and the many lamps were draped with dark red scarves. It was stiflingly warm, and the fire which was burning under the crowded mantelpiece was giving off a heavy, sickly sort of perfume as it heated a large copper kettle. The shelves running around the circular walls were crammed with dusty-looking feathers, stubs of candles, many packs of tattered playing cards, countless silvery crystal balls and a huge array of teacups.

"Welcome, my children. In this room, you shall explore the noble art of Divination." A woman was sitting in the center of the room. She had glasses and outrageous hair that could give Granger a run for her money.

"In this room, you shall discover if you possess the Sight!" She crashed into the table in front of her, eliciting a few sniggers from the students.

"I am Professor Trelawney. Together, we shall cast ourselves into the future! This term we shall be focusing on Tasseomancy, which is the art of reading tea leaves. So please, take the cup of the person sitting opposite you. What do you see? The truth lies buried, like a sentence deep within a book, waiting to be read. But first, you must broaden your minds." She took Finnigan's head in her hands and shook it. "First, you must look beyond!"

She approached Longbottom. "You, boy! Is your grandmother quite well?"

"I - I think so."

"I wouldn't be so sure. Give me the cup." She looked and said, "Oh, pity."

Longbottom seized the cup, and Dean Thomas opened his book.

"Broaden your minds." Trelawny walked around and stopped at Weasley. "Hmmm. Woah! Your aura is pulsing, dear! Are you in the beyond? I think you are!"

As Draco and Blaise snickered, Weasley uncertainly nodded and said, "Sure."

"Look at the cup. Tell me what you see."

"Oh, yeah, um, well, Harry's got a sort of a wonky cross - " he flipped through his book and paused on a page " - that's trials and suffering- and, uh, that there could be the sun- and that's happiness- so, ah, you're gonna suffer, but you're gonna be happy about it."

Draco burst into laughter.

"Give me the cup," Trelawny told Weasley. She took it from him and almost instantly dropped it onto the table with a shriek.

"My dear," she told Potter, "you have the Grim."

Although many students gasped, Draco laughed harder, if that was possible, and there were almost tears of amusement in his eyes. He crossed his arms on the table and put his head down, his body shaking with mirth.

* * *

Hermione noticed Malfoy at a table in the corner, laughing his head off. She had to admit he looked really cute. Thank Merlin he got rid of that awful gel he used to wear.

_MENTAL SLAP. HERMIONE, YOU CAN'T THINK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT!_

Malfoy now had his head in his arms and his body was shaking with mirth, so Hermione's view was obscured.

Oh well, it was for the best.

* * *

"The Grin?" Finnigan repeated incorrectly. "What's the Grin?"

Draco lifted his head.

"Not the grin, you idiot," said Bem Jones. Reading from his textbook, he said, "The Grim. 'Taking the form of a giant spectral dog, it's among the darkest omens in our world. It's an omen of death.'"

Draco and Blaise walked down to Care of Magical Creatures with Theo and Adrian later that day.

"The Grim?" Theo said after Blaise had recollected the story of what had happened (since Draco hated storytelling).

"It's absolutely ridiculous!" Draco exclaimed. "Exceedingly hilarious, but a ridiculous class."

"Nevertheless," Blaise said, "it shouldn't be to hard of a class. I suppose for the exams, we just make up a great deal of stuff, and we'll be cool. By the way, Draco, Granger was eyeing you very lustfully while you were laughing.

Draco was revolted. "Gross. I've already got Parkinson, Bulstrode, and Greengrass - both of them - on my case. I don't need a blood traitor with disgraces for parents, too."

"I think that's taking the hatred thing a bit too far, Draco," Adrian said.

"Is it? I saved her life twice, and she lied to a professor about what a bad person I was. She truly deserves my contempt."

The students followed Hagrid into a small clearing.

"Right, you lot. Less chatterin'. Form a group over there. And open yer books to page forty-nine."

"Exactly how do we do that?" Draco asked.

"Well, just stroke the spine, o' course."

Draco frowned and did what the half-giant told him to. Surprisingly, it calmed the book down. He kept walking. Longbottom, on the other had, was unable to open the book properly. It snarled at him and started snapping at him.

"Ahh!" Longbottom sank to the floor.

"Don't be such a wimp, Longbottom," Draco said as he passed the boy on the floor.

"I'm okay," Longbottom said. "Ahh!" He went down with another attack by the book.

Draco heard Granger say, "I think they're funny.

"Oh yeah," Draco mockinly agreed. "Terribly funny. God, this place has gone to the dogs. Wait until my father hears that Dumbledore's got this oaf teaching classes." The Slytherins laughed (Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco's fan girls genuinely, but Blaise, Theo, and Adrian forcibly).

Potter said, "Shut up, Malfoy," as he walked towards Draco.

"Oooh!" Draco and the Slytherins mocked. Unknown to Draco, Hermione thought he was really cute when he did that, and had to mentally smack herself for thinking so. Meanwhile, Draco walked over to Potter. He looked behind him and pretended to see something.

"Dementor, dementor!" He yelled. Everyone turned around to see nothing. When they turned back, the Slytherins laughed and put their robe hoods up and acted like dementors.

Granger came forward and dragged Potter away. Also unknown to Draco, Hermione secretly thought that although what he did was mean, it was funny and cute.

_Stop using that word to describe him, Hermione, _she berated herself in her head.

Hagrid cleared his throat for the students to be quiet and imitated a fanfare.

Draco's eyes widened. "Buckbeak?"

"What did you say?" Blaise asked.

"Nothing," Draco said. Buckbeak was his secret.

_Wow,_ Draco thought. _Maybe I should get my own Basilisk to protect all these secrets of mine_.


	4. 4: Buckbeak & the Boggart

Hagrid introduced Buckbeak, and after the first question of the class, he began to teach the third years about the creature.

"That, Ron, is a hippogriff. Firs' thing yeh wanna know abou' hippogriffs is that they're very proud creatures. Very easily offended. You do not want to insult a hippogriff. It may just be the las' thing yeh ever do. Now, who'd like ter come an' say hello?"

Draco was about to step forward when someone back right into him. He noticed that the entire class, save Potter, had backed up. Before Draco knew it, Potter was being shoved towards the hippogriff.

_Attention seeker,_ Draco thought.

Hagrid was telling Potter, "Well done, Harry! Well done. Come on, now. Now, you have to let 'im make the firs' move. It's only polite. So, step up, give 'im a nice bow. Then you wait and see if he bows back. And if he does, you can go and touch him. If not- well, we'll get to that later. Just make your bow. Nice and low."

Buckbeak snarled at Potter and Draco couldn't help but smirk while thinking, _Even animals hate him_._  
_

"Back off, Harry!" Hagrid said. "Back off! Keep still. Keep still." After Buckbeak bowed, to Draco's dismay, Potter edged closer to the hippogriff when Hagrid said he could pat him.

Draco reached into his bag and took out an apple. He shoved a few people out of the way to get a front row seat, and took a large bite of his apple. What he didn't notice that Hermione did was that he was right next to her.

Potter reached out to Buckbeak, but Buckbeak snapped at him. Suddenly, Draco felt something on his left hand. He quickly turned to see a red-faced Granger instantly remove her hand from his. It seemed that she'd grabbed the closest hand out of fear for her friend.

Draco gave her a look of disgust and wiped his hand on his robe, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Granger turn redder than she was before.

Well, that was odd. Anyone would think that Granger would return the look of disgust.

He turned his attention back to Potter. By now, he'd begun petting the creature, and everyone applauded.

If Draco knew what a light bulb was, he'd be saying that one went off in his head. He would have to do something to get Hagrid fired to piss off Potter. But Draco wasn't about to make himself look like a fool.

"Crabbe," he whispered to the fat boy one the other side of him. "Five galleons, actually, five cupcakes if you go insult that chicken."

The larger boy's eyes lit up, and he strode over to the hippogriff.

"You're ugly!" Crabbe said to it. Draco was impressed; he didn't know that Crabbe could actually talk, even last year when Weasley impersonated him.

"Crabbe," Hagrid warned. But it was too late. Buckbeak reared back and came down, clawing Crabbe's arm. The boy screamed and fell to the floor as Hagrid attempted to calm the bird down.

* * *

It was study hall, and Crabbe had finally returned from the Hospital Wing.

"Does it hurt terribly, Vincent?" Parkinson asked.

Crabbe just nodded. At the Gryffindor table, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were glaring at Crabbe.

"At least Hagrid's not getting fired," Harry said.

"Yeah, but I hear Draco's father's furious about this happening to his friend's son," Hermione said. "We haven't heard the end of this." Luckily, the boys were too distracted to notice what Hermione had called the blonde boy because Seamus rushed in.

"He's been sighted! He's been sighted!" He tossed the paper in his hands onto the table.

"Who?" Neville asked.

"Sirius Black!" Seamus replied.

"Dufftown?" Hermione said, noting the location. "That's not far from here."

"You don't think he'd come to Hogwarts, do you?" Neville asked. "With the dementors at every entrance?"

"Dementors?" Seamus said. "He's already slipped by them once, hasn't he? Who's to say he can't do it again?"

"That's right," Bem agreed. "Black could be anywhere. It's like trying to catch smoke. Like trying to catch smoke through your bare hands."

Draco heard this from his table, and although he couldn't help but agree, he felt that countless pieces were missing from whatever this puzzle was.

* * *

The cabinet shook.

"Intriguing, isn't it?" Professor Lupin said. Draco remembered that he had been friendswith Potter's father, Sirius Black, and Wormtail. "Would anyone like to venture a guess as to what is inside?"

"That's a Boggart, that is."

"Very good, Mr. Thomas. Now, can anybody tell me what a Boggart looks like?"

"No one knows."

Draco spun to the left to see Granger. She wasn't there before!..which Weasley voiced.

"Boggarts are shape-shifters," she continued. "They take the shape of whatever a particular person fears the most. That's what makes them so-"

"-so terrifying, yes!" Lupin finished. "Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a Boggart. Let's practice it now. Ah, without wands, please. Repeat after me. Riddikulus!"

"Riddikulus!"

Draco had learned the spell earlier this summer when he was browsing through the Malfoys' library. If all that was going to happen in this class was saying spells, then...

"This class is ridiculous," Draco muttered to himself.

"Very good," Lupin said, "well, so much for the easy part. You see, the incantation alone is not enough. What really finishes a Boggart is laughter. You need to force it to assume a shape you find truly amusing. Let me explain. Ah - Neville, would you join me, please? Come on. Don't be shy."

The addressee slowly walked forward.

"Neville, what frightens you most of all?"

Longbottom mumbled something incomprehensible.

"Sorry?"

"Professor Snape," the boy said, louder this time.

The students, including Draco, laughed.

"Professor Snape. Yes, frightens us all. And I believe you live with your grandmother?"

"Yes, but I don't want that Boggart to turn into her, either."

More laughter.

"It won't. I want you to picture her clothes, only her clothes, very clearly in your mind."

"She carries a red handbag-"

"We don't need to hear it. As long as you see it, we'll see it. Now, when I open that wardrobe, here's what I want you to do."

Lupin whispered something in the Gryffindor's ear. "Can you do that?" he asked the boy.

Longbottom nodded.

"Wand at the ready," Lupin said, taking his own wand out of his robe pocket. "One. Two. Three." He unlocked the door.

A hand came out first, followed by the potions professor. He stalked forward and Lupin said, "Think, Neville, think."

"Riddikulus!" Longbottom yelled, and immediately, Snape was wearing the clothes of an old woman - including, yes, a red handbag. The class burst into laughter.

"Excellent, Neville. Everyone! Form a line."

The third years all rushed forward and pushed as many people as they could out of the way. Draco somehow managed to be behind one of the Patil twins (whichever one was in Gryffindor) and in front of Potter.

Lupin said, "I want everyone to picture the thing they fear the very most, and turn it into something funny. Next! Ron! Concentrate. Face your fear. Be brave!" He turned on some music.

Professor Snape turned into an acromantula, and Weasley could be heard whimpering.

"Wand at the ready, Ron," Lupin told him, "wand at the ready."

"Riddikulus!" The red-head said, and eight roller skates were strapped onto the giant spider's legs.

After about five more six more people, the girl in front of Draco went, and a large snake appeared before the students. It swung its head forward, and Patil said, "Riddikulus!" which turned the snake into a rather large jack-in-the-box.

Finally, it was Draco's turn. The clown in the box suddenly transformed into the old Lucius Malfoy. He walked towards Draco.

"Don't, Father," Draco muttered to himself, unaware that the whole class could hear him. "This isn't you."

Draco quickly remembered the time Dobby had thrown Draco's father back when he'd tried to kill Potter the previous year. That was a bit funny.

Lucius raised his wand and said, "Cru-" but Draco yelled, "Riddikulus!"

Lucius flew back into the cabinet, and Lupin shut the door.

"Ah, that's enough for today. If you'd all like to collect your books from the back of the class, that's the end of the lesson."

There were groans from the students, but everyone obeyed the professor and made towards the door. Draco stared at the cabinet for a while before heading towards his three friends, but he didn't miss Lupin's eyes on him.

* * *

"Are you okay, Draco?"

Hermione turned to hear the Trio's old friend, Blaise, asking Malfoy.

"Yeah, I guess," came the reply. "It was scary, though, seeing him like that again."

_Again?_ Hermione thought.

"Remember, the potion's effects are now gone."

_Potion?_

"But what if not all the effects are gone? Then it'll be 'Draco, you're just a filthy squib!' or 'Crucio' all over again."

_What?! Did this mean his father used that curse on him?_ Hermione had read about the Unforgivables before. She looked at Draco...and made eye contact.

* * *

Draco made eye contact with Granger. How long had she been there? What did she hear? He approached her.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" he asked.

Instead of saying, "Shouldn't you?" like she probably would have normally, she just nodded, blushed, and scampered away.

"That was odd," Theo commented.

"I don't care how odd it was," Draco said. "I just want to know how much she heard."

"Don't sweat it," Adrian told him. "She was most likely there for a second."

Draco nodded. "Hopefully. She _is_ nosey, though."


	5. 5: Lupin & Black

It was the Friday before the Hogsmeade trip, and Draco felt like chicken droppings. He couldn't move, and if he did, it would hurt really badly. Therefore, every time he coughed or sneezed, he felt like he was dying...not that he knew what that felt like.

It had all started after lunch. Maybe it'd been something he ate? Or would he come down with the Bowtruckle Flu? He'd shuddered at the thought of the latter.

Draco had felt so miserable throughout his first class after lunch that he had come back to the dungeons to rest. For the past hour or so, Draco had been lying miserably in bed. He was starting to think it _was _the Bowtruckle Flu. He couldn't risk that! How would he play Quidditch?

The following morning, he couldn't talk without feeling nauseous.

"Draco, you feeling okay?" Blaise asked. He, Theo, and Adrian were huddled around the blonde Slytherin's bed.

Draco glared at them as if to say _Obviously not_. He let out a sigh through his stuffed nose and immediately started choking.

"Draco!" the boys cried.

Draco shook his head as quickly as he could without getting a headache to show them that he would be fine. At least, he hoped.

"Well, do you want us to stay?" Adrian asked.

Again, Draco found himself shaking his head. He nodded towards the door and closed his eyes in hopes that they would leave.

So they left, and Draco fell into a deep sleep...

...only to be woken an hour later, at nine, by the old man Draco knew to be meddlesome at the same time as being helpful.

"Good morning, Draco," he said.

Draco tried to nod to show his respect, but his head split in half. Literally. Both halves of his head looked up at Dumbledore in horror.

"Do not worry, Draco. You are only suffering from Merlin's Curse."

Draco frowned and raised an eyebrow...one expression on each half of his head.

Dumbledore explained, "Morgan Pendragon, or as you know her, Morgan le Fay, was once a deciple of Merlin's. She was also the adversary of King Arthur, and Merlin was his magical advisor. To be brief, Morgan was not happy with this and cursed Merlin. However, Merlin took this curse in and it made him stronger."

"Like the sword of Gryffindor," Draco recalled. "Hey! I can talk!"

"Yes, and you do look quite silly split in half."

"Yeah, I don't even want to know how that's possible."

"Well, each head is like a whole, and they are both attached to your neck. As I was saying, since this curse made Merlin stronger, he turned it into an asset for his future heir, you."

"He sure gave this whole heir thing a lot of thought. But if Merlin was English, why are the Malfoys French? Besides, I don't think he had kids."

"Oh, but he did. He had one daughter with his friend Tapis purely out of the spur of the moment - you know how teenagers can get - and named her Taplin. She traveled to France with her mother shortly after her birth. There, she grew up and married Brutus Orion Malfoy."

"So why am I feeling better now?"

"The curse doesn't last that long. It only lasts about a few hours to a few days, depending on the age. It won't ever come back, though. It's like dragonpox."

"But how do you know? You're not nearly as old as you should be were you Merlin's age. That didn't sound very nice."

His eyes twinkling with mirth, Dumbledore said, "All the Malfoys were affected by this."

"Oh." Draco knew once he asked his next question, he must have sounded really stupid; "Were all the Malfoys blonde? Even the people they married?"

Dumbledore just chuckled at him and replied, "Of course not. Blonde hair is a recessive trait."

"What?"

So this was how Draco Malfoy, pureblood extraordinaire, learned about genes and geneology. After his lecture, Dumbledore said, "Well, why don't you go and get some fresh air? You will get sick for real."

"Alright, but why am I blonde? Wait, don't tell me. Merlin."

Dumbledore merely nodded and walked out of the dorm.

* * *

Hermione was ecstatic about the Hogsmeade trip. She handed Professor McGonagall her permission slip and went over to stand with Ron. She was a bit sad that Harry couldn't go, but she and Ron could bring him back loads of sweets from that shop, Honeydukes, that she'd read about.

The trip to Hogsmeade was not quiet, expecially since she was in a carraige with Lavender and the Patil twins. Why couldn't she have sitten with people like Neville, Dean, or Seamus, like Ron was? At least they wouldn't talk only about the cutest boys in school.

For Godric's sake, they were only thrid years! They should be focusing more on school, or even on sports, than on boys.

At least Padma wasn't that bad, being a reasonable Ravenclaw.

Or so Hermione thought.

"Padma, do you agree that Seamus is the cutest Gryffindor?" Lavender asked.

"I think he's up for the cutest in the school," Parvati said.

"Then you two have forgotten Draco," Padma said.

Hermione's eyes bulged. Yes, she herself thought Dra-Malfoy was cute, but...but...alright. She had no excuse.

"Draco Malfoy?" Lavender squealed. "Oh, you are right, Padma. He is definitely eye candy."

"I bet he'd taste great as real candy," Parvati said suggestively.

Hermione couldn't take it anymore. "You girls disgust me!" She exclaimed. How could they talk about boys as if they were food? They were humans, just like the girls were!

"Why?" Lavender asked. "What did we say?"

"Draco Malfoy? Eye candy? You have got to be joking me!" _No need to get possessive, Hermione. He's a complete jerk with only good genes. Ha, I bet he doesn't even know what genes are!_

"Hermione," Parvati said, "don't tell me you're blind!"

"Come one, Hermione," Padma said, "even you have to admit that boys don't have cooties anymore."

"I never said-ugh!" Hermione groaned as the carriage came to a halt and the girls piled out. She went to find Ron.

Hermione couldn't intelligently converse with people. None of them would understand half of what she was saying. Dr-Malfoy's image came up in her head. He was intelligent. Ever since the first year, she'd been wondering why he'd been learning all those random spells and how he could do it so effortlessly. If he wasn't such a jerk and a Slytherin, Hermione might've considered asking him more about his magic.

But this was her first Hogsmeade trip and she wasn't going to think about him like a crazed schoolgirl. He wasn't even here, it seemed. So for the rest of the day, Hermione tried to forget aout him as she tried the various sweets in Honeydukes and the delicious butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks.

She was a third year, and school was more important than boys.

* * *

Draco left the Slytherin common room shortly after Dumbledore had, the younger wizard only delaying to get himself heavily cloaked. He made it to the Clock Tower Courtyard and started to cross the Covered Bridge. When he was halfway across, he saw Professor Lupin standing on one side, looking at the sky.

"Morning, Professor," Draco said.

Lupin spun around and greeted, "Morning, Draco. Shouldn't you be at Hogsmeade?"

"I had been feeling very ill for most of the day yesterday, and earlier this morning, it had gotten worse. But right now, I'm feeling loads better."

"Hmm." Lupin hesitated for a moment before saying," Draco, if you don't mind my asking, why were you muttering things like "Father, this isn't you" to the boggart in my class that day?"

"I was wondering when you'd ask that." Draco sighed. "I don't really feel like telling anyone. I hate storytelling."

Lupin chuckled. "Ah, yes, Dumbledore mentioned that once."

Draco frowned. "Dumbledore mentioned it? What was the topic of conversation?"

"You, of course."

"Why would Dumbledore be talking about me?"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but Dumbledore is very fond of you."

"That's...er, flattering, I guess. But isn't Dumbledore fond of all of his students?"

"Yes, but you two share a special bond. A mentor-student bond at times, and other times, friendship."

Wow. Dumbledore thought him a friend. This was truly flattering.

"On a different note, Professor," Draco started, "was it you who made the dementors on the train disappear?"

"Why, yes."

"How did you do it?"

"The Patronus Charm. You know, you could be in Ravenclaw."

"That is insulting. I refuse to be called a stuck-up know-it-all."

"You know they're not all like that," Lupin said with a chuckle.

"I'm perfectly aware of that."

"Well, I'll be going now. It was nice talking to you."

"You too," Draco repiled, staring at the water. When he heard footsteps, he called for his professor.

"Yes, Draco?"

"What's the incantation?"

"Expecto Patronum. But you can't just say it. You have to think of a happy memory while doing it."

"Thanks, Professor."

"No problem."

Lupin left the bridge thinking about how intelligent this young man really was.

Draco gazed at the Black Lake a moment longer before returning to his room to retrieve his broom. He went out to the Quidditch Pitch and began circling the pitch in the air. He remembered his first flying lesson two years ago. He had done somewhat of a Wronski Feint, only he had actually caught the Remembrall.

He grinned at that memory and practiced said move, for real. He swooped into a deep dive and pulled up only when he was a foot off the ground.

_Yes! _Draco thought. He looked around and suddenly saw a ginger cat with a black dog...and there ws no chasing going on. When Draco saw the two animals walking towards Hogwarts, he followed them from above. Draco hit the ground as soon as he saw them entering the Great Hall.

He picked up his broom and followed them in from afar. The cat and the dog were heading up the stairs, and this boggled Draco's mind even more. He definitely wasn't telling anyone about this, or they'd think that he was going mental. Or was he?

He carefully climbed the stairs, and followed them all the way up to one of the towers. Geez, weren't the animals tired? They were rounding a corner, but before the two animals turned, the dog transformed into a man.

Sirius Black. He was an Animagus! That was probably how he got passed the dementors because those creatures were foul to humans only.

When Sirius Black disappeared around the corner, Draco crept up to the wall and peeked.

The man was standing in front of a portrait. "Let me in," he told a really fat lady in the picture.

The lady gasped. "Never! You may have be a Gryffindor, but you are a sorry excuse for one!"

The man growled at her and said, "Let me in!"

The cat meowed loudly and scratched at the portrait, tearing it in three places. The lady screamed and took off through the portraits.

Sirius Black cursed. Draco took all the courage he had and approached him.

"I know you're not a criminal," Draco said to him. Black spun around, but before he could turn into a dog, Draco grabbed his arm. "Trust me. I know Peter Pettigrew worked for the Dark Lord. Yes, I said Dark Lord. I'm getting used to calling him that." Draco held out his hand.

"Draco Malfoy. Pleased to make your aquaintance. Is there anywhere we can go so you can tell me the full story?"

"You're a Malfoy," he said.

"Yes, but there's a lot you need to understand. I'm not planning on becoming a Dark wizard anytime soon."

"Your mother is my cousin."

Draco's eyes widened. "She is?"

"Yes. Perhaps you are right. We should go somewhere else. I can always kill him later."

* * *

Draco had taken Sirius to the Necessity Room, only this time, Draco had wished for "a place in which he could civilly talk with an alleged criminal".

"What is this place?" Sirius asked and sat down on a black leather couch.

"The Necessity Room," Draco said, plopping down onto an identical couch across the coffee table that separated them. "Coffee?"

He handed Sirius a cup of coffee that was already on the table, just waiting.

"You're a lot like your mother, you know," Sirius said to Draco. "She was never a fan of tea, either."

"Really? All these years I was under the impression that she was."

"She changed after marrying your father."

"So they were arranged."

"I suspected it, but I think they must have fallen in love at some point in their lives. Then something happened. Lucius and Regulus went over to the Dark side."

"Yeah, about that." Draco told him about the Imperius potion. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like the man sitting across from him had a right to know as he was currently being confronted by the son of a former Dark wizard.

"You see, something similar happened to me. Only, I was caught. Many years ago, there was a prophecy that stated that Harry Potter would defeat Lord Voldemort. Well, not Harry. Just a boy born in the end of July. So it could have been the Longbottoms' so as well. Voldemort clearly wanted to get his hands on Potter, but Dumbledore wouldn't allow it. So he sent them into hiding and performed the Fidelius Charm. Are you aware of what this is?"

Draco shook his head. He didn't know everything.

Sirius continued, "There is a Secret-Keeper involved. Only this person would know the whereabouts of the persons in hiding until he or she chose to disclose that information. Naturally, James Potter wanted me to be his Secret-Keeper."

"You were best friends, weren't you?"

"Yes, we were, and it would be obvious that I of all people would know where they were hiding. So I told them to assign the job to Peter Pettigrew. No one would suspect such a weak thing like him to hold such a worthy title."

"But he was a traitor. Father told me about him."

"When he told Voldemort the secret, Voldemort went after them. On Halloween night, 1981, I went to Pettigrew's hiding place and found him missing. Unsettled by the lack of signs of a struggle, I frantically sped to Godric's Hollow, discovering the Potters' house destroyed and my friends dead; only baby Harry was still alive. When Rubeus Hagrid appeared on the scene to rescue Harry, on Dumbledore's orders, I offered to take Harry myself. However, Hagrid told me that Dumbledore had made arrangements to send Harry to Lily's sister, Petunia. I conceded, and gave Hagrid my flying motorcycle, telling him I wouldn't need it.

"After leaving Godric's Hollow, i was overcome with grief and rage. I tracked Pettigrew down, determined to kill him in vengeance. However, Pettigrew surprisingly outwitted me, which no one would have suspected: confronted by me on a city street, he shouted out that it was I who betrayed the Potters, and then created a huge explosion which enabled him to fake his own death, leaving a severed finger behind as evidence, and killed twelve Muggles in the process. Fudge claimed that he saw me laughing maniacally at the scene of the crime, but that was only because Peter's escape nearly pushed me over the edge into insanity. I was arrested by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and was sentenced without trial to Azkaban for the murder of Pettigrew and the twelve Muggles, for giving the information about the Potters' whereabouts which lead to their death and for being in the service of Lord Voldemort which I absolutely was not! I spent the next twelve years in solitary confinement at the mercy of the Dementors.

"Driven to the brink of madness, I retained my sanity by focusing on my innocence. It was more an obsession than a happy thought; it could not be detected by the Dementors, but still gave me small comfort. However, my brooding over my friends' deaths and Pettigrew's betrayal became an obsession as well."

"No wonder you looked so mental when you tried to get into what I'm assuming is the Gryffindor common room," Draco said, quickly adding, "no offense."

"None taken. I am glad to finally have gotten all that out. At least one person believes me."

"I'm surprised I do, but Father said that it was Wormtail who was on the Dark side, not you. We'd just assumed that you'd killed him in rage of betrayal."

"I would have," Sirius muttered. "Wait, how do you know that he's called Wormtail?"

"Everyone called him that, apparently. Do you know why?"

"I suppose you have the right to know. When we were at school, James, Remus, Peter, and I were the Marauders. We created a map of Hogwarts that showed all the whole school, including secret passages, and who was where. I don't think we've ever come across this room, though."

"The door only shows up when you need something. For example, today I needed a place to talk with you."

"I see. Well, this map could only be seen if one tapped his wand on it and said, 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.' So that no one would see its contents when it was not being used, you would have to tap it and say, 'Mischief managed.'"

"Sounds like a lot of hard work and extensive magical knowledge."

"It was, but that was nothing compared to learning how to become an Animagus."

"Speaking of which, why'd you do that anyway?"

"Remus is a werewolf."

Silence.

"_What?!_"

"He was bitten when he was very young. Nothing could be done about it. Every full moon, he had to be taken through the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack for his transformation. That's why the tree was even there."

"It's a passage."

"Yes. When we found out, James, Peter, and I learned how to become Animagi so that we could accompany him and not get hurt. That's how we got our names. James was a stag, so his name was Prongs. Peter became a rat, so we title him Wormtail. I, as you already know, changed into a dog, so I was called Padfoot. Since Remus was a werewolf, we called him Moony."

"Full moon - Moony, that's clever. Now, as fun as this has been, you still haven't told me why you broke out of Azkaban and came here."

"He's here."

"Oh, yeah. I know exactly who you're talking about," Draco said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "In fact, all of the 'he's are here."

"Very funny. I meant Wormtail."

"What? How?"

"He's in this building. Remember the Daily Prophet's article about the Weasleys' trip to Egypt? Well, one of them was holding a rat."

"Isn't that the rat that Potter's friend obsesses over?"

"The very same. That's Wormtail."

"How can you recognize him?"

"All those times I'd seen him transform, not to mention the fact that his toe was missing."

"Ah."

"So you see, I have to kill him before he finds Voldemort. You know he's coming back."

"I'm fully aware, which is why I request that you never repeat this conversation to _anyone_."

"Not even my godson?"

"Not even your godson. Who is your godson anyway?"

"Harry Potter."

"And you just had a fully civilized conversation with his worst enemy at school, even though I did save him multiple times throughout the past two years."

"Why don't you tell me? I feel like we should get to know each other better considering you've never judged me the way others have."

"Well, it helped that I, being a forced Death Eater's son, had the background knowledge that you weren't a big supporter of The Dark Lord."

"But instead of judging me for being a blood traitor, you didn't."

"Right."

"Well, first, tell me why you call him the Dark Lord."

"Voldemort's a pretty stupid name."

Sirius chuckled.

"Also, I have to get used to calling him that if he's going to return. He's probably still under the impression that my father is still under the Imperius Potion."

"Leave it to Snape to have one brewed."

"It was probably his duty. Dumbledore trusts him, though. Besides, Snape is my godfather."

"You should ask him for Occlumency lessons."

"What's that?"

"It will help you block your mind against people who try to enter it."

"I'll ask him. But I also wanted to ask you if you'll help me become an Animagus. I reckon that'll be an excellent way to hide from the Dark Lord when he comes."

"Alright, then. Next Staurday night, meet me near the edge of the Forbidden Forest at midnight."

"Thanks. And honestly, you can't be a blood traitor. It's not like you don't have any blood. That term doesn't even make sense."

"No, Draco, thank _you_. And for your safety, I will not repeat this conversation."

The clock chimed.

"I'd better get going," Sirius said. "The students should be returning soon."

Draco helped Sirius get back to the Forbidden Forest after he turned into a dog again. Then he hurried back to where the carriages would be arriving shortly to greet his friends.

**A/N: I did as much research as I could on the whole Merlin-Morgan ordeal and came up with something reasonable. Guess Wikipedia's not really as helpful as I thought.**


	6. 6: A Mature Pansy

Later that night, Dumbledore ordered all the students to assemble in the Great Hall. Rows and rows of purple sleeping bags were arranged everywhere.

"Attention, everyone!" Dumbledore spoke, pointing his wand at his throat so that everyone stopped talking.

"Quietus," he spoke, and his voice went back to normal. "Sirius Black has been spotted in the castle."

Whispers and gasps ran amongst the students.

"Silence! I can assure you that you all will be safe here. None of you will be returning to your dormitories tonight for you will be sleeping in the Great Hall. Now, find the teacher closest to you for your..."

Dumbledore gave them all instructions on how to find their sleeping bags and whatnot. Draco, Blaise, Theo, and Adrian were assigned a spot near the left corner of the hall. Unfortunately, they were also across from Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, and the Greengrass sisters.

"Hi, Draco!" the last three girls sighed.

"We'll be using the loo, but we'll return soon!" said Daphne Greengrass. The four girls walked out of the Great Hall, accompanied by Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher, but almost immediately after leaving, Pansy did return soon. She made her way over to the boys.

"I've finally given them the slip," she said, flopping down onto her sleeping bag.

"The slip?" Theo echoed. "I can't imagine why you'd do that."

"They're so irritating! It's always, 'Look at Draco's hair' or 'Mother sent me fifty galleons to buy a new nightgown' or some other ridiculous thing."

Draco cocked an eyebrow. "Is Pansy Parkinson becoming mature?"

Pansy rolled her eyes and replied, "I've always been mature. It's just hard to act like it around those three."

"Well, Pansy," Blaise said, "we're glad you're normal."

Pansy grabbed her pillow and chucked it at Blaise, but Draco swiped it out of the air. Pretty soon, it was a full blown pillow fight between the Slytherins.

Hermione eyed the pillow fight from her location with the other Gryffindors. They looked happy to be with each other, although she did notice that Pansy was the only girl there. Was there something going on between her and Draco? Not that Hermione cared. Just pure curiousity.

As it happened, Pansy wasn't romantically interested in Draco like she was in her first year, and she told the other boys this after the pillow fight was over.

"That's great!" Adrian said. "One less desperado that's after Draco."

"I don't think that means what you think it means," Draco said.

"Fine, one less desperate girl that's after Draco. But not to worry, my friend. There are plenty more clueless girls out there."

"You mean almost as clueless as you'll be after I hex you?"

"You wouldn't dare!" Adrian smirked. "By the way, where are your three special fangirls?"

"That's disgusting, especially when you say it like that."

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Draco!" Theo joked.

"Never knew you had that kind of a mentality!" Blaise added.

"There's a great deal of things you don't know about me," Draco said.

"Like?" Pansy prompted.

"Like my birthday."

The other four just stared at him.

"Okay, alright, bad example."

Just then, the three Slytherin fangirls walked into the Great Hall with the professor that had gone with them for their safety.

Bulstrode and the Greengrasses practically ran over to where Draco was and launched themselves at him.

Hermione chuckled from afar, watching what looked like Draco being assaulted by his fan club. Or part of it, anyway. He clearly didn't like those girls, and they probably couldn't take a hint. Hermione wondered if there was someone he liked.

She smacked herself.

"Hermione?" came Harry's voice from next to her. He and Ron were worriedly looking at her.

"You alright?" Ron asked.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

"You just hit yourself," Harry said.

"Really? Didn't notice." Hermione tried to come off as confused, but she knew it didn't really work. Fortunately, the boys turned back around.

After a moment, Dumbledore announced that it was bedtime turned off all the lights. Draco found himself unable to go to sleep. He had so much to think about. He always did. Every year, he was faced with a challenge. This year, it was Sirius Black.

Well after everyone was asleep, Draco raised his wand (he always slept with his wand in his hand). What was that spell Lupin had told him about? Expecto Patronum.

He whispered, as quietly as possible, "Expecto Patronum." A bright, whispy light emerged from Draco's wand, but was gone instantly.

He'd forgotten the happy memory. He recalled the events that had happened in his life. Remembering the time when he'd flown on a broom for the first time, he tried again.

The light stayed awhile longer, but it disappeared again.

"You need a stronger memory."

Draco jumped and spun around to see his headmaster.

"Yes, sir," Draco answered. Then he remembered the summer he'd just had. His father was no longer under the influence of the ridiculous potion. He recalled the moment when everything was all well, and said, "Expecto Patronum."

Multiple rays of light burst from the end of his wand and assembled into an animal.

A wolf.

"Congratulations, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said. "You are the youngest person in history to have produced a fully corporeal Patronus, and it only took you three tries, two of which were improper, I presume?"

Draco nodded.

"Well, then, I suppose that's enough magic for the night. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

As if he hadn't had one today.

"Good night."

"Good night, professor."

* * *

The door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom slammed shut, and in strode Professor Snape. He waved his wand as he passed each of the windows and shut them. He reached the front of the room and pulled down a white screen.

"Turn to page three hundred and ninety-four," he spoke.

Everyone obeyed him, and there was a rustle of pages. Snape walked down the aisle between the desks in Draco's column and Potter's column.

"Excuse me, sir."

Draco turned at the sound of Potter's voice.

Snape directed his eyes towards the Boy Who Lived.

"Wher's Professor Lupin?" Potter asked.

"That's not really your concern, is it, Potter?" Snape continued walking to the back of the room. "Suffice it to say, your Professor finds himself incapable of teaching at the present time. Turn to page three hundred and ninety-four." He tapped the lights next to him, frowned, and the pointed his wand at Weasley's book. The pages automatically flipped to the right place.

"Werewolves?" he exclaimed, reading the heading.

"But, sir," Granger said. Wait, Granger? She wasn't there before. "We've just begun learning about Red Caps and Hinkypunks. We're not meant to start nocturnal beasts for weeks-"

"Quiet!" Snape instructed.

"When did she come in?" Weasley asked Potter. "Did you see her come in?"

Granger got out her book and flipped to the right page.

"Now," Snape. "Which of you can tell me the difference between an Animagus and a werewolf?"

Granger's arm shot up, but Draco also raised his arm, even if it was halfway.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

"Animagi are wizards who choose to become animals, and which animal they become is dependent on their personailty. Werewolves, on the other hand, are humans who are more often than not bitten by other werewolves, and can turn only into this creature regardless of personality."

Granger looked shocked, and a bit upset when Snape awarded Slytherin twenty points.

"With each full moon when the werewolf transforms he no longer remembers who he is," Granger said, even though she hadn't been asked. "He'd kill his best friend if he crossed his path. Furthermore, the werewolf only responds only to the call of its own kind."

"Awoo!" Draco called, and his friends snickered.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy," Snape said. Turning to Granger, he said, "That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger. Are you incapable of restraining yourself, or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?"

Granger glanced at Draco and blushed.

"Five points from Gryffindor!" Snape then addressed the rest of the class, "As an antidote to your ignorance, and on my desk by Monday morning, two rolls of parchment on the werewolf, with particular emphasis on recognizing it."

Everyone groaned, and Potter finally said, "But, sir, it's Quidditch tomorrow."

Snape leaned down in front of Potter's desk. "Then I suggest you take extra care, Mr. Potter. Loss of limb will not excuse you. Page three hundred and ninety-four."

"The term 'werewolf' is a contraction of the Anglo-Saxon word 'wer', which means 'man', and 'wolf'. 'Werewolf', 'man-wolf.' There are several ways to become a werewolf. They include being given the power of shape-shifting, being bitten by a werewolf, or..."

* * *

It was really idiotic to hold the match in such stormy weather. But the players played, and the spectators watched.

At one point in the game, Potter and the Hufflepuff seeker rose so high beyond the clouds that they could no longer be seen. After a few minutes, a boy in a yellow uniform fell from the sky. Dumbledore saved him, using the very spell Draco had almost used in the summer to try to save himself from pain after falling so far.

More minutes later, Potter fell, too, and like the other boy, he was carried into the Hospital Wing.

Draco later learned that Dumbledore was furious because apparently there had been dementors in the sky that day.

"What were dementors doing do close to Hogwarts?" Blaise asked that night before bed.

"Don't know," Draco responded. "Must've had something to do with Sirius Black entering the castle last week."

Oh! He'd almost forgotten about Sirius!

Soon, the boys had gone to sleep and Draco lied awake until ten minutes to midnight. He carefully sneaked out of the Slytherin common room and made his way out of the Great Hall.

At the meeting place near the Forbidden Forest, Draco saw the silhouette of a dog. Draco sat down next to the dog and waited until the clock's bells rang out. The animal next to him shifted into a human.

For a moment, they both sat, staring at the moon. Finally, Sirius turned to Draco and said, "Ready for your first lesson from the worst teacher in history?"

"Second worst," Draco replied without looking at him. "There's a reason Mr. Parkinson never took up the potions post at school after he graduated."

Sirius chuckled. "He has a daughter your age, am I correct?"

"You've definitely kept up with the news of the world all these years." They both rose to their feet.

"And this daughter of his..." Sirius trailed off with a pointed look.

"What about her? Oh! No. No, she's just a friend, and it was only last Saturday when I realized that she wasn't daft like the Bulstrode and the Greengrass sisters...and as Adrian puts it, the rest of my 'fan club.'"

"Well, then, let's get started. You first have to be able to cast a corporeal Patronus charm."

"I already can. It's a wolf."

Sirius gaped at him. "You can already cast one of those?"

"Yeah. Dumbledore said that I'm supposedly the youngest wizard to ever have done it and whatnot."

"Dumbledore taught you?"

"No, he was just there when I learned it. So, since my Patronus is a wolf, I'm guessing my Animagus will be a wolf too?"

"Correct. The next step to learn may take a while."

"Go."

Sirius told him what to do and repeated the instructions again.

"Practice the incantation before you cast the spell," Sirius commanded. "Homenum genus ziegen."

"Say the last word again?"

"Sci-GUIN. The last syllable should sound like the first syllable in the word 'guinea.'"

"Homenum genus ziegun."

"Excellent. Now peform the spell. Slow and steady!"

Draco lifted his wand to his left shoulder and said, "Homenum." A blue light emerged from the tip of the wand and rested on the shoulder. Draco drew a line from there to his opposite hip, straight up to his right shoulder, and then across to his left hip before connecting the two points with one more line that went back up to his left shoulder.

Keeping the line connected to his wand, he pulled his wand out and towards his heart.

"Genus," he spoke right after he slowly pushed the wand forward to contact his chest. He turned the wand halfway in a clockwise motion and said the last word, "Ziegun."

Then very deliberately, as if the events were being played in slow motion, Draco's wand was released from his hand. Draco turned into a creature and the blue light formed words.

Canis lupus arctos.

Although the transformation had taken a total of two minutes, Draco was human again in two seconds after five second of being the animal.

"Quick!" Sirius said. "What were the words?"

"Canis lupus arctos, but didn't you see them too?"

"Only the caster of the spell can see the words. Canis lupus arctos, Canis lupus arctos. You're going to have to write that down and look it up."

Draco pulled out the spare parchment, his quill, and his inkpot from his robe. He'd thought that he'd need to take notes or something, so he'd brought them. Thank Merlin he had.

He quickly scribbled the words legibly onto the parchment and shoved it back into his robe pocket;

"What now?" Draco asked.

"You will do as much research on them as you can. The next Hogsmeade trip isn't until winter, right? Well, expect a message from me about our next meeting before then. However, I will give you enough time to learn a great deal of information about your animal. By the way, I don't think you'll find animal books in the school library."

"That's alright. I know where I can find books on the subject." Draco was thinking of the Necessity Room.

"Perfect. Off you go, then, and be careful!"

"I could say the same to you. Good night."

Sirius changed back into a dog, and Draco left for the castle. He was passing the kitchens when a voice caught him by surprise.

"Sneaking around after dark, are we?"

It was Filch.


	7. 7: Canis Lupus Arctos

"I was just going to the kitchens for a midnight snack," Draco said, defending himself quickly on the spot.

"Excuses, excuses. You'll be serving detention tomorrow in the trophy room."

"Fine."

Filch raised the duster he was carrying, and with the handle, jabbed Draco all the way back to the Slytherin common room.

The following day, Draco had a field day in the trophy room. Filch had left him by himself to dust and shine the awards, but he had also forgotten to take away his wand.

Draco decided to conjure a guitar and soundproofed the room. He couldn't recall the last time he'd seen a guitar, but he still remembered how to play. He also knew how to play the piano, but most pureblood heirs could do that (Draco was probably the most advanced out of them all, though he was too modest to say that, especially since Theo was right up at the top with him).

He'd learned how to play music from his wand a while ago. He set the song to play everything but the guitar and vocals. Draco would be doing that part.

He picked a song from one of his favorite American wizarding bands (wizarding, but the Muggles knew of them), Fall Out Boy.

The drums came on and he played along.

_Wishes bounce me weightless_  
_The infrared scope on pointlessness_  
_The bulls are sedated_  
_And this fight's fixed_  
_Don't feel bad for the suicidal cats_  
_Gotta kill themselves nine times before they get it right_  
_The P.A. system keeps my heart heart beating tonight_

_Oh hell yes_  
_I'm a nervous wreck_  
_Oh hell yes_  
_The drugs just make me reset_  
_Knock once for the father_  
_Twice for the son_  
_Three times for the holy ghost_

_Come on in, the water's warm_  
_Come on like a sugar cube but with a kick in the head_  
_Like putting wings on lead_  
_And your eyes are blocking my starlight_  
_I'm the last of my kind_  
_And that's all that should matter t-t-to you_

_Follow the disorganized religion of my head_  
_And we'll never get through customs_  
_Let's just take off again instead_  
_Got my degree in the gutter,_  
_My heart broken in the dorms of the ivy league_

_Oh hell yes_  
_I'm a nervous wreck_  
_Oh hell yes_  
_The drugs just make me reset_  
_Knock once for the father_  
_Twice for the son_  
_Three times for the holy ghost_

_Knock once for the father_  
_Twice for the son_  
_Three times for the holy ghost_

_I'm a nervous wreck_  
_I'm a nervous wreck_  
_I'm a nervous wreck huh_  
_I'm a n-n-nervous wreck_  
_I'm a nervous wreck_  
_I'm a nervous wreck_  
_Oh hell yes_  
_The drugs just make me reset_  
_Knock once for the father_  
_Twice for the son_  
_Three times for the holy ghost_  
_Three times_  
_Three times for the holy ghost_  
_Three times_  
_Three times for the holy ghost_

The song ended and Draco did a weird (and embarassing-to-do-in-public) jig-jump-triwl combination. He still hadn't lost his touch! He wondered if Blaise, Theo, and Adrain could still play bass, guitar, and drums, respectively.

They could start a wizarding-yet-known-by-Muggles band!

It was then that he decided to stop getting so excited over something so trivial.

Draco played a few more songs until it had been half an hour...

...which meant that Filch would be back soon. Instead of playing another song, Draco packed up everything and then cleaned the trophies with a few flicks of his wand.

Filch walkde in the room and inspected the awards before inspecting the boy. Draco had already hidden his wand in his robe pocket antherefore, he wasn't caught.

A white folder of sorts fell out of Filch's pockets. Curiousity as to why Filch would have anything readable overcame Draco, and he picked it up.

Kwikspell, it read on the front.

"You dropped this," Draco said, handing the man the folder. Filch snatched it from his hands and shooed Draco away, orders which Draco obliged to follow.

Draco went straight up to the Necessity Room and asked for animal books of all sorts. He was met with an enormous animal - magical (including dragons and such) and regular (consisting of dogs and the like) - library.

Of course, he went to the regular animal part of the library. He quickly deducted that Canis Lupus Arctos was some sort of canine, as the name stated.

So he did something foolish and said, "Accio canine books!"

A hundred books came flying at him, and Draco didn't have time to conjure a protective shield.

"OW!" He exclaimed. It took him a while to sort through all the books, but at last, he found something that seemed right.

_Following the Lifestyle: The Arctic Wolf_

_How incredibly convenient, _Draco thought. _Arctic wolves don't live in Great Britain_._ If someone asks what the wolf is doing here, am I supposed to suggest that it probably wandered onto an iceberg which incidentally floated to this country? Oh, and I shouldn't forget to mention that the wolf walked all the way here from the coast, to Hogwarts of all places._

Sarcasm aside, the wolf did look pretty cool. But why was Draco a white wolf?

_THUNK!_

Another book hit him, but this time, it had fallen from the ceiling...or the roof...or the sky...or whatever else was up there.

_Animagi-A Guide to a Successful Transformation_

Draco found the answer to his question. Apparently, the animal also had to sort of look like him. That's why Wormtail's Animagus form was missing a toe. It was because he was missing his finger.

Draco didn't have any sort of injury, so perhaps his eye color would remain the same as well. He'd noticed that after his father had been released from the potion, both of their eye colors had gone from gray to blue.

He spent an hour reading as much of the Arctic Wolf book as possible before he decided that he needed a break. He took the book with him and headed down to the dungeons.

As silently as possible, he slipped the book under his pillow and crept out of the dorms.

He exited the castle and jogged over to the place he's first seen Buckbeak with Hagrid. There stood the magestic bird, glancing from side to side.

"Buckbeak?" Draco called.

The bird raised its head and slowly approached Draco. Draco reached out to pet the bird.

"Feel like giving me a ride around the grounds today?" he said to the bird before climbing on.

Buckbeak galloped forward and lifted its wings. The bird flew past the moon, which only seemed a mile away. They swooped down over the water, and Draco remembered being young and stressless once more.

**A/N: The song that Draco sang was West Coast Smoker by Fall Out Boy. Let's pretend that these songs were in their time just for the sake of my happiness. This may not seem relevant to the story, but trust me, it is. You'll see why in the next book. Look at me, planning ahead! Ahem.**


	8. 8: Hogsmeade

Draco and Blaise exited from their Ancient Runes class and made for the North Tower. Another day of learning that Granger couldn't _not _keep her arm in air. It wasn't until after Divination was over that Draco realized something.

"Blaise?"

"What?"

"Granger's in our Ancient Runes class."

Blaise frowned. "Yeah, you know that."

"She's in our Divination class."

"Yeah. Where are you going with this?"

"Ancient Runes is at the same time as Divination."

"Right...Oh!" Blaise finally understood. "Are you saying that-"

"-she's got a time turner too."

"Well, I guess you really do learn something everyday."

Draco stared at Blaise with a blank look.

"Okay," Blaise said, "I had no other clever things to say to that."

"You say 'other' like what you said was clever, too."

"It was."

"Maybe Hogwarts should have a common sense class...for idiots like you."

Blaise shoved Draco in the shoulder. "If you walk that slow, we'll both be late."

"Watch out!"

Blaise halted in the middle of the hallway and saw what Draco had stopped him from crashing into. It was an orange-ish lionlike cat-Kneazle...with a piece of parchment in its mouth. Draco recognized this as the cat that was with Sirius the day of the first Hogsmeade trip.

Before Blaise could, Draco took the parchment and read it to himself:

_Arctos,_

_I hope this has fallen into the right hands. Crookshanks has managed to retrieve me equipment to write with and on. I write to say that we must wait until after winter break officially starts. Until then, keep reading._

_Padfoot_

Someone shoved into Draco, and he stumbled forward a bit. He turned around saying, "Watch it!" and found Granger picking up her books and other school materials.

"Sorry," she said. "By the way, I seem to be missing one of my quills and ink bottles, and some parchment has been torn from my Transfiguration essay. You wouldn't happen to see it, would you?"

So that was where Crookshanks the cat got the materials for Sirius. He must've been Granger's cat. Speaking of Granger, why was she being so nice? "No," Draco stated, "we're not thieves, you know. But maybe you don't know, being prejudiced against Slytherins and all that."

Granger flushed scarlet and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I was just wondering if you'd seen it lying around somewere and...I'll just go." She shoved everything into her bag and headed to her next class.

Hermione mentally slapped herself. Why did she act like that? Why couldn't she keep calm around him?

"Oi, Granger!" Draco called. She turned around. "Is that your cat?" Hermione directed her eyes toward the half-Kneazle. How did he know?

"How did you know?"

_Nice going, Draco_, Draco thought to himself.

"I was just going to ask anyone that came by. You happened to be the first." Draco almost sighed in relief after he came up with the excuse just in time.

"Oh. Well, I can't take him back to the rooms now, or I'll be late for class."

"Then don't. He's safe in the castle, and he'll turn up sometime later." Granger probably thought he was being inconsiderate but she didn't know that Draco knew how up and about Crookshanks had been lately.

_How inconsiderate could he be?_ Hermione thought. There, a perfect reason to get rid of her crush. Yes, she finally admitted it. She didn't know why she liked him, but she was just attracted to him. She was a girl, after all, and also owed her life to him on multiple occassions. A perfect reason to _not_ get rid of her crush.

Completely unexpectedly to Draco, Granger answered, "Okay."

He and Blaise exchanged confused glances before Granger tunred around and walked away.

"Blaise?"

"Yeah?"

"We have Care of Magical Creatures next."

"Yeah."

"Granger's in that class."

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

The two boys caught up to the girl and started walking on either side of her. She looked perplexedly at them.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Walking," Both boys simultaneously answered. They walked in silence until they reached Hagrid's hut. Draco and Blaise walked over to Theo and Adrian while Hermione walked over to Harry and Ron.

Ron looked furious. "Why did you just walk here with Malfoy and Blaise?"

Hermione remember how good of a liar she was back in first year (the troll incident) and decided to put her talents to "good" use.

"Malfoy made me angry so I hexed him. Blaise came along and saved him. Since we were going to the same class, we ended up walking together. Not really together, just close to each other."

Thankfully, both Gryffindors accepted her answer, but both of the Slytherins in question had also heard the answer.

"Not a bad liar for a Gryffindor try-hard know-it-all," Blaise said. Draco's nicknaming" was really getting to him.

"Yeah," Draco said, glaring. "We found that out in first year."

Blaise groaned. "Here we go again."

* * *

It was Draco's first Hogsmeade trip, and his three best friends made it a point to show him around the whole village.

As in the _whole_ village.

The six boys (yes, Crabbe and Goyle had come along with them after the other fours' last stop in Honeydukes) approached the outlook by the Shrieking Shack. But they weren't alone.

Granger and Weasley were there, looking out at the building. This was a perfect opportunity to torment Weasley and to get Granger to hate Draco.

Draco marched right up to them. "How romantic. Are you two shopping for your new dream home? Big, grand view, isn't it, Weaselbee? Doesn't your family sleep in, uh, one room?"

"Shut up, Malfoy," Weasley said.

"Ooh, not very friendly. Boys, I think it's time we taught Weaselbee how to respect his superiors."

"Hope you don't mean yourself!" Granger said, stepping in front of the redhead. She finally cracked!

"How dare you talk to me!" Draco said. "You filthy, little Mudblood."

_SMACK!_

A snowball hit him on the side of his head.

"Who was that?" he said. Another snowball hit him directly in the face. Alright, head count. Annoying redhead Gryffindor equal of Crabbe and Goyle? Check. Insufferable squib-born know-it-all? Check. Boy who just can't die? Missing. No check. Didn't Blaise mention two years ago that Potter had an invisibility cloak? Of course.

Instead of retaliating, Draco called to the boys, "Let's get out of here."

As they walked to back to the Three Broomsticks, Draco heard Potter (who'd probably come out from under his cloak) telling his friends about the Marauders' Map. Supposedly he'd gotten from the Weasel twins. Draco excused himself to go to the bathroom.

He crept out of the building through the back door by the bathroom. "Expecto Patronum!" he said. A shimmering wolf appeared.

"Padfoot, Potter has the Marauders' Map. Don't know how." Draco concentrated hard on Sirius and sent the message to him. Then he quickly went back inside.


	9. 9: The Road to Animalism Continues

Winter break had officially started, and many students had left the school. This meant that Draco would be contacted by Sirius soon. He did not, however, expect to be contacted by the means of a Patronus.

He was randomly walking around the school and was just passing the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom when a silvery dog came bounding.

"_I don't know how Harry could have gotten the map, but at least Peter doesn't have it. On a different note, it is time for our next meeting. I trust you have learned as much as you can about your animal. Same place, same day, same time. You know who I am."_

Draco was glad for the message, but couldn't Sirius be more subtle? Someone could've heard! He walked away, relieved that no one had seen or heard the Patronus.

He hadn't seen Professor Lupin standing right behind him. The man was confused. He'd known right away whose Patronus that was. Remus had probably seen it a million times back in the old days. But why would he be contacting Draco Malfoy of all people?

Harry was clearly Harry Potter, and the map must've been the Marauders' Map. Remus didn't know how Draco and Harry had found out about the map, though. And how could Peter Pettigrew have it if he was dead? The real question was, what was the meeting about? It had something to do with an animal, apparently.

Remus Lupin could not figure out that part so he gave up. Should he bother Dumbledore with it? No, it wasn't possible. Perhaps it was another animal. Remus _was_ getting old, after all.

Draco exited the Necessity Room after a rockout session on the guitar. He didn't really look like a rockstar, but it was still fun and a great way to take his mind off things.

He climbed the steps and as the passed the library, he unconciously reached for _Following the Lifestyle: The Arctic Wolf_ in his bag and pulled it out. Consequently, he wasn't really paying attention to where he was going and crashed right into Granger.

"Watch it, Mudblood!" Draco said after a moment's hesitation. It was getting harder to be mean to someone that didn't hate him no matter what he did. For Merlin's sake, she'd been _nicer_ since the Hogsmeade trip!

"My parents are squibs, not Muggles!"

"Same thing, though," Draco said, not meaning a word. "I'm surprised that they weren't disowned. Father always said that the Grangers and the Lysons were always too nice."

When he mentioned their niceness, Draco was hoping that the girl in front of him would take the hint and stop being so weird around him.

"Your Father this, and your Father that. Well, I'm sure he was quite nice to Voldemort!"

Draco's jaw clenched. In a dangerously calm voice, he said, "You think you know everything, do you? Don't you _dare_ talk about my father like that."

"Or what? You'll hex me?"

Draco raised his wand and said, "I just might." He didn't miss the fear that swept across her eyes.

She stepped back a little and made to leave when she noticed something. Draco followed her eyes to his book, and he quickly shoved it into his bag.

"Go," he barked, "before I keep my promise of hurting you."

As Hermione left, she was having even more mixed feelings than she was before. Why was he so mean to her? She didn't miss the hint about the niceness; Draco Malfoy had noticed that something was off about her. Did he want her to hate him?

She'd also noticed that he had been very protective of his father. But what she couldn't believe was that she was actually afraid that he would do something to her. Since when was she afraid of Draco Malfoy?

That book he was carrying had also intrigued her. Why he would want to learn about the lifestyle of an Arctic Wolf was beyond her.

Hermione was glad that Harry and the Weasleys hadn't gone home, so she wasn't alone. Unfortunately, Lavender and the Patil twins hadn't gone home either ("What if the dementors come back?" Lavender had said.) The three girls had planned a sleepover and "invited" (more like forced) Hermione to come. It wasn't like she had a choice anyway, considering that two of the girls were her roommates. To be frank, Padma shouldn't have been in the Gryffindor Tower, anyway, because she was a Ravenclaw.

So there she was, stuck in a gossip circle with no Ginny to save her. It was the Hogsmeade carriage ride all over again. If Hermione heard one more word about Draco's looks, she would scream in frustration and rage.

And yes, she did have to resort to that. Saying, "Why do you three always talk about boys?" she walked down to the common room.

"You alright?" Harry asked her. He and Ron were playing Wizard's Chess while Fred and George were engaged in a game of Exploding Snap. Ginny, meanwhile, was sitting on a couch, indulging herself in various sweets from Honeydukes.

"Yes," Hermione said, "although I'm completely done with those girls. All they do is gossip, talk about boys, makeup, clothes, etc., and did I mention that they gossip?"

"Don't you wish I was one of your roommates instead of them?" Ginny said, jokingly.

"Actually, I do." She flopped down onto the couch next to her redheaded friend. Quickly checking that Harry had gone back to his game, Hermione turned to Ginny.

"Who do you think is the cutest, hottest, whatever-est boy in the school?"

"Sorry?" Ginny said, her mouth full of Sherbet Lemon.

"Pretend that your a girl from outside Hogwarts and magic and whatnot. You're not blinded with bias. Don't give me that look. Everyone's at least a bit influenced by who's in what house. Tell me the truth. I'm just checking people's minds and brains here."

Ginny raised an eyebrow before replying, "You're not going to like my answer."

Hermione opened a package of Every Flavor Beans and popped a red one in her mouth. "Go on."

"Draco Malfoy."

Hermione choked on the chili flavored bean and started coughing.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Ginny asked.

Hermione couldn't say anything, but Ginny was smart enough to bark orders at the other boys to get water. Soon, Harry returned with a glass from the emergency cupboard in the common room. Hermione grabbed it with trembling hands and downed the glass.

"I'm fine," she croaked.

"What happened?" Ron asked.

"Choked on chili," Ginny answered, and Hermione could tell that she wasn't interested in sharing with her brother what she had just shared with Hermione.

"I'm going to bed," Hermione said.

"I'll come with you," Ginny offered.

Although Hermione had been shocked by her friend's honest answer, she was also relieved that she wasn't the only one who felt this way. It was just a childish attraction.

Even if she was the only girl who acted all nice and nervous around him.

In the meantime, Draco was heading down to the Forbidden Forest for a quick ride on Buckbeak before his meeting with Sirius. He'd just received a message from his father that'd read:

_Draco,_

_I am sure you are aware of Crabbe's "injury" from the hippogriff. Silly boy, does he ever pay attention in class? I'd been assigned to this case for whatever reason, and during the hearing I had to make up all sorts of lies about the dangerousness of the creatures. Buckbeak the hippogriff has been sentenced to death. This was not my choice. I am aware of your closeness with the bird and hope that you will cope with the council's decision._

_Your Father_

After reading the note, Draco had decided that he needed to see Buckbeak again so that was where he was headed. He knew that the bird had every right to know its fate so he told it.

He mounted the bird and said, "Buckbeak, you're a really great bird and I know that you would never harm someone one purpose. In all honesty, it's my fault you're in this position. I had told Crabbe to insult you because that might have gotten Hagrid sacked which would have outraged the Golden Trio which was my way of having them forget about their life-debts to me. I didn't plan this at all, but...you're getting executed."

Buckbeak reared back, and Draco calmed down the bird with one hand as he held on tightly with the other.

"I'm so sorry, Buckbeak. I'm telling you, I had nothing to do with the decision, but I _swear_ that somehow, I will get you out of this mess. In the meantime, let's just go for a fly."

So bird and boy went flying.

Draco bid Buckbeak goodbye and went to see Sirius for the next part of his transformation. When he reached the black dog, it turned into the familiar man.

Draco said, "Why would you risk sending me a Patronus? Someone could have seen it! You know that Lupin, who teaches here, would have recognized your Patronus?"

"I thought it an effecient way to communicate. That and the fact that Crookshanks wasn't there...and I had also run out of parchment and ink and-"

"Alright, alright. I don't really care for excuses. It was unlikely that it had been seen, and if anyone did see it, including Lupin, he or she would probably agree that the Patronus was someone else's, not yours.

Sirius stepped forward and said to Draco, "I think you're ready for the next step. Listen carefully. The next step is the actual transformation. You must concentrate hard on the animal and must cast several spells at once. There will be three sets of spells, with two spells in each set - one verbal, one nonverbal. Can you perform nonverbal spells?"

"I've never really tried it before, but it can't be too difficult."

"Disarm me."

"You don't have anything for me to remove."

"Right, er," Sirius snapped a twig off of a nearby branch and said, "now."

Draco focused on the word _Expelliarmus_ and when he performed the motion, the twig flew from the man's hand.

"Excellent!" Sirius applauded. "Now, you will perform each set of spells at once. The first verbal spell is the physical trait, or in other words, just the scientific name of your animal. Speaking of which, what is your exact species?"

"Arctic wolf."

"Wow. That's going to be hard to cover for."

"Tell me about it."

"So you will say-"

"-Canis Lupus Arctos."

"Exactly. The first nonverbal spell is personality. The second verbal spell is others' impression of the animal. The second nonverbal spell is your impression of other people in general. The last verbal spell is the habitat. For you, that's the Arctic. The last nonverbal is your deepest desire. You have to think of all of these words and then translate them into Latin using a spell. I hope you brought parchment and ink because you certainly won't remember all of the words."

Sirius taught Draco the Lating translation spell and let the blond get to work. He came up with the traits and spells fairly quickly:

1st Verbal: Physical...**Canis Lupus Arctos- Arctic Wolf**

1st Nonverbal: Personality...**Solus- Lonely**

2nd Verbal: Others' impression of animal...**Periculosum- Dangerous**

2nd Nonverbal: Animal's impression of others...**Procax- Meddlesome**

3rd Verbal: Habitat...**Arcticum- Arctic**

3rd: Nonverbal: Person's deepest desire...**Cognatio- Family**

Quick as he might be, by the time he was done it was one-thirty in the morning. Good thing it was a Sunday on which he would wake up.

"Done?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, finally."

"During casting, the caster must point at three parts of the body: head, torso, and feet, in that order during each set. We will do this step after you learn how to turn yourself back. This task is a lot simpler. All you have to do is cast a charm on yourself to make yourself always remeber that you are human. This way, your huma characteristics will stay. To actually turn back into a human, you have to raise your head and pretend that you are climbing up. In your head, think of your human form."

"I thought you said that becoming an Animagus would be hard."

"It took a lot longer for me to figure out exactly how that first spell worked. And that was just the start."

"Okay. I'm ready."

"The charm is 'Meminime'. Just point your wand to your brain and say it."

Draco followed the instructions and now he was prepared for the transformation.

Draco said, "Canis Lupus Arctos" while thinking "Solus" and pointing at his head. Next, he said, "Periculosum" while thinking"Procax" and pointing at his chest. Last, he said, "Arcticum" and thought "Cognatio" while pointing at his feet.

Suddenly, he was surrounded by a swirling tornado of blue light. It wrapped around him and choked him. Draco couldn't breathe. He felt pain shoot through his shins as his arms collapsed.

Then it was over. He was on the ground. But everything felt different. He opened his mouth to speak, but out came, "Awoo!"

He'd done it! He thought hard about his human form and made to climb, and the next thing he new, he was Draco Malfoy the thirteen-year-old again.

"Congratulations, Draco!" Sirius applauded. "You're officially an Animagus. An unregistered one, but still an Animagus."

"Unregistered?"

"Well, if you want, you can tell the Ministry that you're an Animagus. By 'can' I mean 'have to'. It's required that they know, but the Ministry doesn't know about me. Given the state of things and everything you've told me, I suggest you tell no one about this."

"Thanks for helping me."

"I only told you what to do. You practically did it yourself. Technically speaking, you are the youngest wizard to have become an Animagus, and you set the record for fastest as well."

But Draco didn't care about that. He was still thinking about his howl. "Sirius, people must have heard me howl."

"Don't worry. I put a charm around this area so that no one else would be able to hear. It's two in the morning, now. You'd better get some sleep."

"Yeah. Thanks again."

"No, Draco, thank _you_."

As Draco left, he understood that Sirius meant that he was grateful for Draco's letting him be a part of the world, both Wizarding and the world in general.

Sirius Black was glad to be back.


	10. 10: Freaky Predictions

Crookshanks looked to his left and he looked to his right before proceeding into the boys' dormitories. He cautiously tiptoed in and made to leave the door only a crack open. His eyes scanned the room and he made for the bed he had once seen the rat sit on when his owner, Hermione, had brought him into the room.

There was nothing there. Suddenly, a quick flash caught his eye. He spun around to see the rat darting out of the room and immediately, Crookshanks chased after him. The two creatures ran through the common room and out the door, down the stairs and past the Great Hall, out into the sun.

The rat evidently couldn't keep running so when he paused to catch his breath, Crookshanks pounced. The rat squirmed, but Crookshanks held on tightly with his left front paw. Unfortunately, the rat was too small for the cat's grip, and he wriggled out, dashing away.

Crookshanks, left it the dust, returned to his master's room and took a nap.

Meanwhile, as the Golden Trio headed down to see Hagrid, Ron was complaining to Harry about how Crookshanks had killed Scabbers.

"Maybe you should learn to take better care of your pets!" Hermione said.

"Your cat killed him!"

"Did not!"

All three of them missed the cat in question on his way to take a nap.

They arrived at the lake and found Hagrid skipping stones.

"How'd it go Hagrid?" Hermione asked about the hearing.

"Well, first off, many members took turns talking about why we were there. Then I got up and did my piece, about how Buckbeak was a good hippogriff, always cleaned his feathers. And then, Lucius Malfoy, well you can imagine what he said. 'Buckbeak was a deadly and dangerous creature who'd kill ya as soon as he looked at ya'".

"And then?" Hermione asked.

"And then Crabbe Senior got up and asked for the worst."

"They're not sacking you?" Ron said.

"No, I'm not sacked...Buckbeak's been sentenced to death!" The half-giant began to sob, and pretty soon, his tears were plopping into the water harder than the rocks he was throwing.

Later that night, after Lupin took the Marauders' Map from Harry, who had been wandering about the halls, he took a look to see if Harry was telling the truth about Peter Pettigrew. He found Pettigrew's name near the kitchens.

"No," he said aloud to himself, "it's not possible." Peter was dead, but the map wasn't broken.

* * *

"Broaden your minds!"

Another day in Divination. They were crystal gazing today. Draco groaned and rolled his eyes.

He was almost asleep when Trelawny marched up to his and Blaise's table and said, "Well, what do we have here? Go on, give it a go."

"Oh!" Draco sarcastically squealed. "I've been looking forward to the future, but my eyesight is going bad. And this crystal ball-"

"What about it?" Trelawny interrupted.

"It's always cloudy, except for-"

"Except for?" she prompted.

"-when you look into the past."

"Look into the past?" Trelawny frowned, confused.

Draco turned to Blaise, grinning, and the two of them sang, "One night stand!"

The whole class except for Potter and Weasley joined in on singing "one night stand" after Draco and Blaise before cheering and bursting into applause.

At the Golden Trio's table, Ron was saying, "What rubbish!" Hermione actually thought it was brilliant and was surprised at how many people knew this band and song, "Thnks fr th mmrs" by Fall Out Boy. What Draco did was extremely clever and Hermione couldn't help but sing along with them.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"Singing."

"With the enemy?"

"It was clever and funny."

"Are you alright, Hermione?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You called Draco Malfoy clever and funny."

"I'm aware."

Trelawny went to the Golden Trio's table next...well, after telling Draco to see her after class. Draco watched as Granger got furious with the professor, knocked the crystal ball off the table, and stormed out of the room.

"Anger management issues," Draco muttered.

"Give her a break," Blaise said. "I'd be pissed too, if Trelawny said that to me. Besides, she sang 'Thnks fr the mmrs' with us."

Draco sighed and waited for class to be over. Blaise left as Draco went over to talk to Trelawny.

"Now, Mr. Malfoy, singing in class will not be tolerated. Is that understood?"

Draco nodded and tried not to roll his eyes. He made for the door, but in came Potter holding the crystal ball Granger had knocked over. Apparently it had made it down the flight of stairs. Potter pushed past him and set the ball on the table. Then he started looking at it with a curious expression on his face.

Out of nowhere, Professor Trelawny grabbed Potter's shoulder. Her voice began to croal, and she said, "_It will happen tonight. The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight...before midnight...the servant...will set out...to rejoin...his master."_

The teached began choking and coughing. When she recovered from her little fit, she said to Potter, "Oh, I'm sorry, my dear boy. Did you say something?"

"No, nothing!" Potter replied. Draco started backing out of the room with Potter slowly doing the same. The professor offered a weak and confused smile. Once out the door, both boys sped all the way down the stairs.

They looked at each other.

"That was bloody creepy," Potter said.

"You're telling me," Draco replied. He began walking. "I think that's the only time she's ever made a real prophecy."

"So she's not a total fraud."

"I suppose not."

The two boys halted in their tracks when they realized that they were having a civil conversation.

"Let's just head back to our common rooms," Potter hesitantly suggested. "Hagrid cancelled class today."

Draco just nodded and both boys spun around, going in opposite directions.


	11. 11: The Most Complex Rescue Mission Ever

Draco walked through the courtyard with Crabbe and Goyle. Blaise, Theo, and Adrian were finishing up their homework so they couldn't come with him. Crabbe and Goyle, on the other hand, never did their homework, and Draco was already done with his.

They passed the executioner who was sharpening his blade and jogged (well, Draco did) to the giant rocks behind which they hid to watch Buckbeak. Crabbe had brought a camera with him.

"Give me that!" Draco said, snatching the camera from him. "I bet you don't even know how to function it, now, do you? Anyway, my father said I could keep the hippogriff's head." Draco shuddered at the thought.

"Look who's here," Goyle said.

Draco turned around to see Granger storming up to him, followed by Potter and Weasley.

"Ah, come to see the show?" Draco mocked.

"You foul, loathesome, evil little cockroach!" Granger struck her wand at Draco's throat.

"Hemione, no!" Weasley yelled. "It's not worth it."

Granger turned to leave and Draco laughed at her. She whirled around to stick her fist in Draco's face, but he was too fast for her. He raised his hand and grabbed her fist before she could hit him.

Draco narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. "Don't. You. Dare." He shoved her back and strode off. He didn't even need to look back to see that Crabbe and Goyle were following him.

"Listen, you two," Draco told them. "Go back to the common room and take a nap or something. I'll give you food."

The two idiots nodded their heads and left immediately. Draco doubled back to the rocks to find the Golden Trio heading down to Hagrid's. He too made his way down, but he had to hide in the pumkin patch.

In the hut, Hagrid had just given Weasley his rat back. Draco debated on whether or not he should barge in and kill the stupid creature, but decided against it. He turned to find that Dumbledore was coming down with the Minister and the executioner. He needed to make sure that the Trio left.

"-you owe someone an apology," Granger was saying. Draco picked up a rock.

"Right," Weasley said. "Next time I see Crookshanks, I'll let him know."

"I meant me!"

Draco chucked the rock at the pitcher behind Granger and it shattered into pieces.

"Blimey!" Hagrid said. "What was that?"

Draco picked up another rock and hit Potter in the head.

"Ow!" Potter exclaimed. He finally turned to face the window and saw the men. The Trio opened the back door as Hagrid opened the front door.

_Oh great,_ Draco thought, _they're headed towards me_. He quickly backed into the forest.

_Snap!_ He stepped on a twig and instantly ducked for cover behind the nearest tree. Granger turned around.

"What is it?" Potter asked her.

"I thought I just saw...never mind."

The Trio rose and ran back to the giant rocks. Draco was about to emerge when he saw an arctic wolf.

It was him.

"Draco?" He called. The wolf turned and assumed its human form. The two Dracos stared at each other.

"This is so weird," the first Draco said.

"You're telling me. You weren't supposed to see me."

"Why not?"

"I'm from the future. Dumbledore sent me back in time to save Sirius and Buckbeak."

"What?"

"Yeah, it's pretty confusing." Future-Draco beckoned to Present-Draco to follow him. The two of them returned to the pumpkin patch.

"What on earth are we doing?" Draco asked.

"Saving Buckbeak," FD replied. Go!"

Draco walked calmly towards Buckbeak. "Hey, man, it's me."

Buckbeak looked up and snorted.

"Sh! I'm here to rescue you." Buckbeak obediently got up and and went to Draco. Draco released the chain from its post.

Hagrid's door opened. Dumbledore came out and started showing the other two men sights in the distance.

"Hurry up!" FD told Draco. "Dumbledore's buying us time." He was wearing a...a thing...with dead ferrets hooked onto it.

"What in Merlin's name is that?" Draco asked.

"Method of bribery. Come on!" FD tossed Buckbeak a ferret, and the three of them quietly crept back into the forest.

The two Dracos watched as Dumbledore told the executioner that his services were no longer needed. The executioner slammed his axe into a pumpkin.

FD led Draco and Buckbeak through the forest.

"Where are we going now?" Draco asked.

"You ask too many questions."

"I_ am_ you!"

FD dropped the "method of bribery" on the ground along with Buckbeak's chain. "Stay right here," he told the bird.

FD dragged Draco to the edge of the forest and Draco saw the Whomping Willow.

"Look, there's Lupin," pointed FD. "And there's Snape."

"And now?"

"And now we wait."

After a moment, there was a growl and a scream.

"Let's go!" FD said. The two boys ran past the shrubbery and found Lupin as a werewolf, about to attack Potter.

FD transformed into a wolf and howled. This caught the werewolf's attention. He bounded towards Draco and FD as a wolf.

"Great, now he's coming for us."

FD took off, and Draco quickly transformed into a wolf before following. The two arctic wolves leapt through the trees, followed by the were wolf, until they had nowhere to go.

Out of nowhere, Buckbeak appeared and screeched at the werewolf, sending him away. The three animals were hit by a breeze.

Dementors.

FD sped through the forest, Draco at his hind legs. They appeared at the edge of the Black Lake. On the other side, dementors were sucking the souls of Sirius and Potter. FD became a human again and Draco followed his lead.

"How did you know to come here?" Draco asked.

"Don't you think I was in your shoes once?"

"What?"

"I was the past-Draco, or in your case, present-Draco. There was another future me to lead the actual me the way I am leading you right now."

Draco gaped at FD. "That made absolutely no sense."

"It doesn't have to. How strong is your Patronus?"

"What are you asking me for? We're the same person!"

"Wands at the ready, then? You take the lake side, and I'll take the forest. Together, now."

They both stood back to back and yelled together, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The brightest white light in existence was blasted from each boy's wand, and dementors were removed from everywhere within a radius of fifty feet, or at least that's what it seemed like.

Finally, the dementors were gone, and so was the light. The Dracos watched as Potter slumped over.

"Quick!" FD said. "We don't have much time!"

The two boys ran back to Buckbeak and mounted the beast.

"Come on, Buckbeak," FD told the bird, "Flitwick's office!" The bird raced forward in swooped into the sky. The bird gracefully landed.

"Draco," FD said, "you have to go now."

"What? What about Sirius?"

"I'll take care of him. You have to go straight to the Hospital Wing and Dumbledore will tell you what he told me. You will do exactly what I just did to save Buckbeak and then come here to save Sirius."

"So I'm going to be the time-traveler now?"

"Yes, now go, before Sirius sees us both."

Draco raced down to the infirmary just as Dumbledore was exiting it.

"Dumbledore! Sirius, trapped, Buckbeak. What do I do?"

"Three turns should do it. You know where to go. Be back before this hour ends."

Draco nodded and turned his time-turner. He scrambled down to the forest behind the pumpkin patch and assumed his wolf form. He watched as his past self backed into the forest, snapping a twig in half. Draco the wolf turned around, and moments later, his name was called.

Draco faced himself and became human once more.

_Here we go again, _Draco thought.

* * *

The two boys ran back to Buckbeak and mounted the beast.

"Come on, Buckbeak," Draco told the bird, "Flitwick's office!" The bird raced forward in swooped into the sky. The bird gracefully landed.

"Draco," Draco, who to the other was FD, said, "you have to go now."

"What? What about Sirius?"

"I'll take care of him. You have to go straight to the Hospital Wing and Dumbledore will tell you what he told me. You will do exactly what I just did to save Buckbeak and then come here to save Sirius."

"So I'm going to be the time-traveler now?"

"Yes, now go, before Sirius sees us both."

Past-Draco left, and Draco raised his wand.

"Bombarda!" Sirius looked up, shocked.

"Come on!" Draco said. "We haven't got much time left."

Soon enough, they were flying through the clouds. They landed in the courtyard and Draco got off of Buckbeak.

"I'll be forever grateful for this," Sirius told Draco. "To both of you."

"Both?"

"You and your past-self. Yes, I noticed. I know you're really the same person, though. I shall never forget your help, Draco."

"What will happen to you now?"

"I'll have to go into hiding. But don't worry about me, alright? Everything will be fine."

"Bye, Sirius," Draco said, "and good-bye, Buckbeak."

The bird began to gallop, and as it flew off into the moonlight, Sirius called, "You'll hear from me soon!"

Draco heard the clock begin to chime and he assumed his wolf form before speeding off to Dumbledore. He arrived just as his past-self was leaving.

"I'm done!" Draco exclaimed. "I did it!"

"Did what?" Dumbledore asked. "Good night."

* * *

On the morning of the last day of school, Harry received the Marauder's Map from Lupin after learning of his resignaiton from the Defense Against the Dark Arts post. During breakfast, there was more news waiting for him.

"Can I have a go?" Seamus asked. "After you, of course."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.

There was a package on the table.

Ron said, "I didn't mean to open it, but it was badly wrapped and...they made me do it!" He pointed to his twin brothers.

"Did not!" the twins exclaimed in denial.

Harry unwrapped it and found The Firebolt's shiny handle glinting at him.

"This came with it," Hermione said, holding up something Harry recognized as a feather of Buckbeak's.

Who could have given him this? And why was Buckbeak's feather there?

At the Slytherin table, Blaise asked Draco, "When are you going to ride yours?"

The previous night, Draco had gotten the same gift as Potter had this morning, but he instantly knew where it had come from. Blaise, having seen it, had demanded to know what had happened, but Draco said that it was a gift from his parents.

This morning, Draco's reply was, "When I get home. I don't need to be a show-off like Potter."

"Of course not," Blaise said sarcastically.

When Draco got home, he told his parents that he had gotten the broom from Hogsmeade, and they said nothing more.

Lies, lies, and more lies. He had lied to his parents and his friends, his teachers and his enemies. Soon, he would even begin to lie the Voldemort himself. Little did he know that that was going to happen in less that a year.

**THE END**

**Book 3 has come to a close and book 4 is next. Hope you're enjoying the series so far!**


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